Allianz Global Investors (GI) has launched a new fund, domiciled in Luxembourg, dedicated to emerging market equities, which will be managed by its US office based in San Diego – for a good reason. The vehicle, entitled Allianz Emerging Markets Equity Opportunities, already has a solid track record in the United States. The fund, now registered in Luxembourg and aimed at investors in Europe, will be managed by a team of 8 people based in the United States, led by Kunal Ghosh, who currently manages overall USD1.8bn in assets. The fund offers investors a way to gain access to emerging markets via a disciplined approach to stock-picking, with the objective of locating activities which show potential for profits. The product will invest in 100 to 150 positions.

The European mutual fund industry, with overall net inflows of EUR12.7bn for long-term mutual funds, showed a healthy growth pattern for November 2013, according to Lipper’s latest Fund Flash. The inflows were mainly driven by inflows into equity funds (+EUR9.8bn) and mixed-asset funds (+EUR4.8bn). Over the course of the year 2013 so far the European fund industry enjoyed net inflows of EUR177.2bn, equally driven by net inflows into bond funds (+EUR95.8bn) and equity funds (+EUR95.7bn). In contrast, money market funds showed the highest net outflows (-EUR86.3bn).BlackRock, with net sales of EUR2.6 bn, was the best selling group of long-term funds for November, ahead of JP Morgan Asset Management (+EUR2.0 bn) and Schroders (+EUR1.2 bn).

Tobam on Tuesday, 14 January announced the launch of the Anti-Benchmark All Countries World Fund. Its objective is to offer broad diversification via a very large investment universe, the MSCI ACWI, which currently includes 23 develped markets and 21 emerging markets, or about 2,500 securities, the asset management firm says. The Anti-Benchmark All Countries World Equity fund has USD80m in seed capital from a major European pension fund. “In April 2013, at the request of an institutional investor, we launched a USD325m mandate with ‘All Countries’ coverage. Since then, we have sought to create an open-ended vehicle, in order to make the strategy available to a larger base of investors. In 2014, we intend to continue to add to our range of maximal diversification solutions, in order to respond to the evolving needs of our clients,” says Christiphe Roehri, director of development at Tobam.

Assets under management at the Swiss group Bordier remained stable in 2013, at over CHF10bn, Grégoire Bordier, a partner at the private bank, has told Agefi Switzerland. “The markets have had a positive effect and restructuring asset have had a negative effect, since we are very clearly in the category of the declared money strategy,” says Bordier, who says that net inflows have been negative overall, but positive outside Switzerland, particularly in Singapore, where Bordier now has about CHF1bn in assets under management.

As an addition to its investment expertise unit, Hottinger & Cie has recruited a team specialised in management of commodity investment funds and energies, Agefi Switzerland reports. Pierre Martin, 38, will manage a range of funds specialised in natural resources. He worked for Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and then URAM in Geneva. Thomas Couvret, 33, becomes Product Specialist, in charge of sales of funds managed by Hottinger & Cie. He has worked for PIM Gestion France (now known as FourPoints Investment Managers since its merger with IT AM) and then URAM.

Despite a debate over the 30-year period of gains on government loans, Aberdeen Asset Management is of the opinion that government bonds still have a role to play in portfolios. Government bonds represent a tool for diversification compared with other asset classes, such as equities. They represent a source of income, and if the valuation of some securities may potentially be affected in the short term, they have historically allowed for capital to be preserved well over the long term. “Bonds play an important role in diversified portfolios, due to the regular income that they bring and their defensive qualities. Investors nonetheless need to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff with selectivity. Portfolios which are excessively exposed to the national bond market, and/or which are heavily weighted in bonds from countries with high debt levels, all present a concentration risk. The diversification of investment opportunities based on economic fundamentals will represent a key factor for success on fixed income markets in the next few years,” Joanne Gilbert, bond investment specialist, explained on 14 January during a visit to Paris. In this environment, Aberdeen in October 2013 launched the Aberdeen Global – World Government Bond Fund, which offers extremely diversified exposure to international government bonds. The fund, whose assets already total USD100m, will allow investors to diversify their own portfolios and to stabilise their performance, via government and quasi-government bond issues worldwide. The management of the fund will aim to seek out issues with the best prospects for appreciation, income or stability, through a rigorous bottom-up selection process which fully takes advantage of the local presence of Aberdeen and its significant global research resources. The fund will limit its exposure to non-investment grade debt and will seek to maximise its absolute returns through investment grade government bond issues which continually show near-zero default rates. Unlike the vast majority of global bond products, the performance of the fund will be compared o that of a benchmark index weighted by GDP. It is a more epresentative global index, which concentrates more on economic forces relative to countries than to the volume of debt issued. As a result, the fund strongly prefers growth economies which generate high revenues (through higher returns), while presenting lower levels of public debt (expressed as a percentage of GDP). The strategy is calibrated in order to take advantage of the gradual convergence between fixed income markets in emerging and developed economies, due to a mnagement style which is based on criteria common to both markets.

Assets under management at the Ashmore group, specialised in emerging markets, at the end of December 2013 totalled USD75.3bn, compared with USD78.5bn as of the end of September, according to a statement released on 14 January. The decline in assets is due to a net inflow of USD3.5bn, which has been marginally compensated by a positive market of USD0.3bn. Most strategies have seen redemptions, with the notable exception of corporate debt strategies, which have finished the half with assets of USD7bn, compared with USD6.4bn as of the end of September.

Assets under management at the Ashmore group, a specialist in emerging markets, at the end of December 2013 totalled USD75.3bn, compared with USD78.5bn as of the end of September, according to a statement released on 14 January. The decline in assets is the result of a net outflow of USD3.5bn, marginally offset by a positive market effect of USD0.3bn. Most strategies have seen redemptions, with the notable exception of corporate debt strategies, which have finished the quarter with assets of USD7bn, comapred with USD6.4bn in assets as of the end of September.

Joel Ross, a New Jersey doctor, has declared before a jury that he delivered Matthew Martoma, a former manager at SAC Captial Avisors, the results of experimental tests on Alzheimer drugs, in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in consultation fees and contacts for his clinical practice, the Wall Street Journal reports. The man is a key witness for the government in the insider trading trial of Mathew Martoma. Ross claims that he supplied confidential information to Martoma several times.

RBC Global Asset Management has announced the addition of 10 global equity specialists to its investment management team in London. The team of specialists, led by Habib Subjally, join from First State Investments (UK) where they previously managed USD2.5 billion in a variety of global equity strategies for institutions and private clients over the past eight years. Habib Subjally will assume the position of senior portfolio manager and head of global equities. Neil Abbott, Luis Benoliel, Marcus Lun, Jeremy Richardson, Julie Thomas, Dag Wetterwald, Perry Winfield and Ben Yeoh are joining as senior portfolio managers, and Romain Scampini will join as portfolio manager.The new global equity team joins investment professionals at RBC Global Asset Management-UK specializing in emerging markets and European equities, as well as global and emerging markets fixed income. In total, the London office currently comprises 34 investment professionals and staff (including five from the new global equity group). That number will grow to 39 when Habib Subjally and the remaining members join in early March.

John Yule, head of retail clients in the United Kingdom at F&C, has left the firm, Investment Week reports. He was previously sales director at Thames River, and served in a variety of sales positions at F&C since 1994. His responsibilities will be taken over by Rob Thorpe, who joined F&C in December to become head of consumer clients.

BlackRock is profoundly overhauling its management teams in Asia Pacific. According to eFinancial News, the asset management firm has separated the responsibilities for its funds in the region, which represent USD600m, following the departure of director Robert Weatherston, responsible for the funds, who left the business last week after 18 years. Weatherston had been director of the Japan Value Equity team, oversaw the Japan Value, International Value and Pacific Equity portfolios. His departure thus introduces a new distribution of responsibilities at BlackRock in the region. Marc Desmidt, head of alpha strategies and management of strategic products for Asia-Pacific, has been promoted to the position of lead manager of the BGF Japan Value Fund (USD275m in assets) and BGF Japan Fund (USD90.4m in assets). Meanwhile, Andrew Swan has been appointed as lead manager of the BGF Pacific Fund, which has USD231m in assets, while providing management of several other funds in the region. Finally, BlackRock has announced the appointment of Oisin Crawley as head of research for the Asian fundamental equity research team, based in Hong Kong.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) board of administration unanimously re-elected Rob Feckner as board president and elected Priya Mathur as vice president, according to a statement released on 14 January. Feckner will be serving his 10th term as president, while it will be Mathur’s first vice presidential term. She replaces George Diehr who has served as vice president for the last six years.

Robeco is adding to its team in Asia-Pacific. Ryan Changwon Kim last month joined the Dutch group in Seoul as head of its South Korean office. His mission will be to provide development of activities in Korea. Kim, who had previously served as head of investment advising at Mercer, replaces Ken S. Park, who in July last year joined Oaktree Capital Management in Hong Kong as vice president in charge of marketing and client relationships.

High-net-worth investors in the U.S. (investable assets greater than USD5 million) maintain an average of 4 investment provider relationships, according new research from Cerulli Associates."Wealth provides many investors with the privilege of benefiting from institutional products and prices across asset managers, and it also grants them the ability to leverage their status among providers and advisors,» states Donnie Ethier, associate director at Cerulli. «High-net-worth investors continue to steadily diversify their advice providers.» «Overall, high-net-worth investors appear reluctant to terminate existing relationships,» Ethier explains. «In fact, nearly one-quarter of high-net-worth households report their primary provider controls at least 90% of their investable assets.»

The asset management division at JP Morgan earned net profits of USD568m in fourth quarter 2013, up 19% compared with the previous quarter, and 18% compared with fourth quarter 2012, according to statistics released on 14 January by the banking group. Assets under management increased by 12%, o USD172bn, to a total of USD1.600trn as of the end of December, due both to inflows and positive market effects. The group posted net profits of USD5.3bn in fourth quarter, compared with USD5.7bn one year previously, and USD17.9bn for the year as a whole, compared with USD21.3bn in 2012. Results were affected by the resolution of the Madoff affair, as the bank recently agreed to pay USD2.6bn to settle claims by the government and in the private sector.

Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management has put in place a fee limitation agreement which will reduce total charges on assets in the db X-trackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares Fund (ASHR), which will fall from 1.08% to 0.82%, Wealth Adviser reports Since the launch of the fund on 6 November 2013, with an initial investment of USD108m, assets under management have virtually doubled to USD212m. The good reception for the strategy has made it possible to pass on savings on costs to investors, the firm says.

The Geneva-based asset management firm Argos Investment Managers is planning to develop in France, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom, Investment Europe reports. The firm, founded in 2005, offers a number of investment strategies, including the micro-capitalisation fund Argonaut, mnaged by Philip Best and Marc St John Webb.

The German reinsurance group Munich Re has decided to launch a ratings activity in partnership with TÜV, Handelsblatt reports. Munich will provide ratings of risks related to infrastructure projects (“Project Risk Rating,”) wich will interest many investors, including insurers, seeking attractive investment opportunities in a low-interest rate environment.

Amundi and UniCredit have signed a partnership to finance the real economy through loan funds for German small and medium companies, the two firms announced on Tuesday. The first transaction to be signed in the form of a “Schuldscheindarlehen” (a type of private investment specific to Germany) totals EUR25m. As part of the agreement, Unicredit Bank AG will act as a partner bank to Amundi. The partnership offers a way to invest in various transactions initiated by Unicredit Bank AG, including bilateral loans, syndicated loans or club deals, “Schuldscheindarlehen” and bonds transacted in the form of private investments.

The daily trading volume of on-book trades on the European markets of NYSE Euronext in December totalled EUR231.9m, up 19% compared with the previous month, and 20% compared with December 2012. Trading volumes totalled EUR4.6bn, up 13.3% compared with November, and 14.4% compared with December 2012. Block trades totalled EUR249.5m, up 80% compared with November, but down 79.4% compared with December 2012. As of the end of December, assets under management in all ETFs listed on the markets of Euronext totalled EUR160.2bn.

Robeco muscle son équipe en Asie-Pacifique. Ryan Changwon Kim a en effet rejoint le mois dernier le groupe néerlandais à Séoul en tant que responsable de son bureau en Corée du Sud. Sa mission sera d’assurer le développement de l’activité en Corée. Ryan Changwon Kim, qui officiait jusque-là comme responsable du conseil en investissement chez Mercer, remplace Ken S. Park, ce dernier ayant intégré en juillet dernier Oaktree Capital Management à Hong-Kong en tant que vice-président en charge du marketing et des relations clients.

BlackRock remanie en profondeur ses équipes de gestion en Asie-Pacifique. Selon eFinancial News, la société de gestion a en effet séparé les responsabilités au sein de ses fonds dans la région, qui représentent 600 millions de dollars, suite au départ du directeur Robert Weatherston, en charge de ces fonds et qui a quitté l’entreprise la semaine dernière après 18 ans de bons et loyaux services. Ce dernier dirigeait en effet l’équipe «Japan Value Equity», supervisant les portefeuilles Japan Value, International Value et Pacific Equity. Son départ induit donc une nouvelle distribution des rôles au sein de BlackRock dans la région.De fait, Marc Desmidt, responsable des stratégies alpha et de la gestion des produits stratégiques pour l’Asie-Pacifique, est promu au poste de gérant principal des BGF Japan value Fund (275 millions de dollars d’encours) et BGF Japan Fund (90,4 millions de dollars d’actifs). En parallèle, Andrew Swan est nommé gérant principal du BGF Pacific Fund, qui pèse 231 millions de dollars d’encours, tout en assurant la gestion de plusieurs autres fonds dans la région. Enfin, BlackRock a annoncé la nomination de Oisin Crawley au poste de responsable de la recherche pour l’équipe actions fondamentales asiatiques, basée à Hong Kong.

Le cabinet d’avocats international Jones Day vient de recruter Marie-Fleur Rautou au sein de la pratique Dérivés et Infrastructures de marché du bureau de Paris dirigée par Alban Caillemer du Ferrage.La nouvelle recrue dispose d’une expérience importante dans le domaine du clearing (fonctionnement et réglementation des chambres de compensation). Elle conseille régulièrement des institutions financières sur la structuration, la documentation et la collatéralisation d’opérations sur instruments financiers et a également développé une expérience significative en matière de compensation, indique un communiqué.

«L’Afer se porte bien». Gérard Bekerman, son président, ne boudait pas son plaisir, hier, lors de la présentation des résultats 2013 de l’association d’épargne et de retraite. De fait, dans un contexte de taux d’intérêt bas, l’Afer a dévoilé un taux de rendement net de frais de gestion de 3,36 % pour le compte de l’année 2013, en léger retrait par rapport aux 3,45 % servis en 2012. L’an dernier, la première association d’épargnants en France a surtout enregistré 20.000 nouveaux adhérents – soit une progression de 30 % par rapport à 2012 – pour 7.000 départs volontaires, ce qui porte à 713.552 le nombre total de ses adhérents. Mieux, l’Afer a engrangé une collecte brute de plus de 2 milliards d’euros, en augmentation de 28 % par rapport à 2012. Résultat: ses recours ressortent à 46,8 milliards d’euros fin 2013 contre 45,2 milliards d’euros en 2012. L’Afer a pourtant dû faire face à 150 millions d’euros de rachats totaux et à 1,3 milliard d’euros de rachats partiels (dont 900 millions d’euros liés à des prestations décès), en baisse malgré tout de 27 % sur un an. «En tenant compte des décès, nous avons 200 millions d’euros de décollecte nette», n’a pas caché Gérard Bekerman. Le président de l’Afer a cependant déjà les yeux tournés vers 2014. Les projets ne manquent pas. Outre une étude avec son partenaire Aviva France sur une future offre Eurocroissance et la poursuite de l’enrichissement de sa gamme d’unités de compte, la priorité sera donnée à la diversification des gérants. Une mini-révolution alors que l’Afer collabore depuis 37 ans avec Aviva Investors. «La finalisation des appels d’offres pour la création de nouveaux supports en unités de compte est en cours», a indiqué Gérard Bekerman. L’objectif poursuivi est double: réduire les risques et augmenter l’efficacité. Le président de l’Afer est pourtant resté volontairement discrétion sur ses intentions. «Là où nous pourrons trouver de bonnes compétences, nous les solliciterons. Un appel d’offres sur le private equity devrait être finalisé dans les tout prochains jours», a toutefois concédé Gérard Bekerman.

La division gestion d’actifs de JP Morgan a dégagé un bénéfice net de 568 millions de dollars au quatrième trimestre 2013, en progression de 19% par rapport au trimestre précédent et de 18% par rapport au quatrième trimestre 2012, selon les chiffres communiqués le 14 janvier par le groupe bancaire.Les actifs sous gestion se sont accrus de 12% ou 172 milliards de dollars pour s'établir fin décembre à 1.600 milliards de dollar, en raison à la fois de la collecte et d’un effet marché positif.Le groupe a enregistré un bénéfice net de 5,3 milliards de dollars au quatrième trimestre contre 5,7 milliards de dollars un an plus tôt et de 17,9 milliards de dollars sur l’ensemble de l’année contre 21,3 milliards de dollars en 2012. Les résultats ont été affectés par la résolution de l’affaire Madoff, la banque ayant récemment accepté de débourser 2,6 milliards de dollars pour régler des contentieux avec l’Etat et avec le secteur privé.

PAI Partners est encore loin du but. Selon le Financial Times, la société de gestion française de fonds de LBO aurait recueilli 1,4 milliard d’euros d’engagements de la part d’investisseurs, dont son ancienne maison-mère BNP Paribas, pour son sixième fonds. Or la compagnie a débuté la promotion de PAI Partners Europe VI à la fin de l'été 2012 avec un objectif de 3 milliards d’euros. Ce sixième fonds a vocation à investir un ticket moyen de 300 millions d’euros dans 8 à 12 sociétés européennes.

Tobam a annoncé mardi 14 janvier le lancement du fonds Anti-Benchmark All Countries World Fund. Son objectif est de proposer une large diversification à travers un très large univers d’investissement, le MSCI ACWI, comprenant actuellement 23 marchés développés et 21 marchés émergents, soit environ 2.500 valeurs, précise la société de gestion. Le fonds Anti-Benchmark All Countries World Equity bénéficie de 80 millions de dollars d’amorçage en provenance d’un important fonds de pension européen. «En avril 2013, à la demande d’un investisseur institutionnel nous avons lancé un mandat de 325 millions de dollars avec une couverture ‘All Countries’. Depuis, nous avons veillé à créer un véhicule ouvert, afin de rendre la stratégie disponible à une base élargie d’investisseurs. En 2014, nous avons l’intention de continuer à étoffer notre offre de solutions de diversification maximale afin de répondre à l’évolution des besoins de nos clients», souligne Christophe Roehri, directeur du développement de Tobam. Caractéristiques ISIN: FR0011653443 Frais de gestion: 1,30%

Suite à une réflexion engagée cet automne (lire Newsmanagers du 09.10.2013), Amplégest a lancé début janvier un nouveau fonds, Amplégest PME. Géré par Saad Benlamine et co-géré par Augustin Bloch-Lainé, le fonds sera éligible au PEA-PME, avec un univers d’investissement «conforme aux critères de sélection définis dans la loi de finances 2014 aux modalités d’application qui seront déterminées dans le décret d’application à venir», précise la société de gestion française à Newsmanagers. D’ores et déjà éligible au PEA classique, le produit pèse actuellement 5 millions d’euros. Amplégest s’est fixée un objectif d’encours de 30 millions d’euros pour ce produit à fin 2014. A fin 2013, les encours sous gestion d’Amplégest ont atteint 630 millions d’euros, pour des souscriptions nettes affichant 41 millions d’euros en gestion privée et 21 millions sur la partie asset management. C’est le fonds Amplégest Multicaps qui a le plus collecté, avec 18 millions d’euros de souscriptions nettes l’an dernier. C’est ce fonds que la nouvelle recrue de la société de gestion en provenance de Delubac AM, Gérard Moulin, pilote depuis le début de l’année, en plus de ses fonctions de responsable de la gestion actions Europe d’Amplégest. La société de gestion française compte 21 collaborateurs.

La société de gestion OFI InfraVia a annoncé mardi que son second fonds infrastructure, InfraVia European Fund II (« InfraVia II »), a acquis auprès de Dalkia France, sa participation de 24 % dans le groupe Régaz, le réseau de distribution de gaz de la ville de Bordeaux et de 45 communes avoisinantes.Régaz est le plus grand distributeur de gaz indépendant de France, opérant un réseau de 3.315 km et 210.000 points de livraison, indique un communiqué. Le montant de la transaction n’a pas été précisé.